High-volume, cost-sensitive work
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs 24% less on a typical mix of three input tokens for every output token ($0.53 against $0.69 per million tokens).
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs GPT-5 Mini: price, context and capabilities
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for high-volume, cost-sensitive work, writing and code generation, reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents), very long inputs, the hardest reasoning tasks, reasoning over long documents and the latest release; on the other points the two are level or the data is missing.
In short
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is 24% cheaper than GPT-5 Mini at the headline price ($0.525 / 1M tokens vs $0.6875 / 1M tokens).
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash reads more per request: 1M tokens against 400k.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the newer model (October 2026, against Aug 7, 2025).
- Only GPT-5 Mini offers batch api.
Which should you choose?
Each answer below comes straight from the published prices, specifications and independent benchmark results.
Writing and code generation
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash charges $1.20 per million output tokens, against $2.00 for GPT-5 Mini. Output dominates the bill when answers are long.
Reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents)
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash charges <$0.01 per million cached input tokens, against $0.03 for GPT-5 Mini.
Very long inputs
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash reads up to 1M tokens per request, against 400k for GPT-5 Mini.
Hardest reasoning tasks
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores 45.1 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, against 16.8 for GPT-5 Mini.
Reasoning over long documents
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores 82.7% on Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR), against 72.3% for GPT-5 Mini.
Latest release
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the newer release (October 2026, against Aug 7, 2025 for GPT-5 Mini).
Monthly cost at three volumes
| Volume | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | GPT-5 Mini | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype: 1M input, 250K output tokens | $0.60 | $0.75 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, $0.15 less |
| Production: 20M input, 5M output tokens | $12.00 | $15.00 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, $3.00 less |
| Scale: 500M input, 100M output tokens | $270.00 | $325.00 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, $55.00 less |
Standard rates, without caching or batch discounts. Volumes are per month.
Specifications side by side
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | GPT-5 Mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | DeepSeek | OpenAI |
| Category | Language models | Language models |
| Status | Generally available | Legacy |
| Headline price | $0.525 / 1M tokens | $0.6875 / 1M tokens |
| Input | $0.30 / 1M tokens | $0.25 / 1M tokens |
| Output | $1.20 / 1M tokens | $2.00 / 1M tokens |
| Cached input | $0.006 / 1M tokens | $0.025 / 1M tokens |
| Context window | 1M | 400k |
| Max output | 384k | 128k |
| Released | October 2026 | Aug 7, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | No data | May 2024 |
| Licence | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Capabilities | Vision, Reasoning, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching | Vision, Reasoning, Tool calling, Structured output, Prompt caching, Batch API |
| API model id | deepseek-flash | gpt-5-mini |
Benchmarks side by side
Leader in bold.
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | GPT-5 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence Index | 45.1 | 16.8 |
| SciCode | 55.9% | 39% |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 43.3% | 21.5% |
| MMMU-Pro (visual reasoning) | 80.6% | 70.1% |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 82.7% | 72.3% |
| Terminal-Bench Hard | No data | 33.3% |
| GPQA Diamond | No data | 82.8% |
| IFBench (instruction following) | No data | 75.4% |
| τ²-Bench (agentic tool use) | No data | 68.4% |
Independent evaluations by Artificial Analysis, run the same way for every model, at the reasoning setting shown. Percentages unless marked as an index.
Frequently asked questions
Should I choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or GPT-5 Mini?
Choose DeepSeek V4.1 Flash for high-volume, cost-sensitive work, writing and code generation, reused prompts and documents (RAG, agents), very long inputs, the hardest reasoning tasks, reasoning over long documents and the latest release; on the other points the two are level or the data is missing.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or GPT-5 Mini?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is 24% cheaper than GPT-5 Mini at the headline price ($0.525 / 1M tokens vs $0.6875 / 1M tokens).
Which has the larger context window, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or GPT-5 Mini?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash reads more per request: 1M tokens against 400k.
What is the difference between DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GPT-5 Mini?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is made by DeepSeek and GPT-5 Mini by OpenAI. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is 24% cheaper than GPT-5 Mini at the headline price ($0.525 / 1M tokens vs $0.6875 / 1M tokens). DeepSeek V4.1 Flash reads more per request: 1M tokens against 400k. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is the newer model (October 2026, against Aug 7, 2025). Only GPT-5 Mini offers batch api.
How much do DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GPT-5 Mini cost per month?
At 20 million input and 5 million output tokens a month, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $12.00 and GPT-5 Mini costs $15.00, at standard rates.
Which is newer, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or GPT-5 Mini?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash was released on October 2026 and GPT-5 Mini on Aug 7, 2025.